Hey you guys ... what is the common vaccination protocol these days? For a good, long time I was doing three-year vaccines on all of my dogs past their first birthday ... then i got a reminder from my vet today that my dogs, who got all of their shots including rabies last year, were due for shots again (yes, including rabies).

I called and questioned it and got a line of bullshizzle from the receptionist about it being "not recommended, ever" to do three-year, even though it's available ... I have never heard that before. In fact, just the opposite. And even though I've been using this vet for more than three years, I've never been told I had to vaccinate annually until this year. Then she said something about mosquitoes and rabies, which is when I realized she had no idea what she was talking about, so I asked her to have a tech call me later with more info. I'm waiting on a call back, but in the meantime, tell me what you guys are doing with your vaccines? What do your vets recommend?

I do them as seldom as possible. I've been told that there isn't even any different formula for the three-year vs one-year vaccines, and that the protective properties hang around much, much longer than the shelf-life suggests anyway. Even as much as a dog vaccinated completely in early adulthood might still be covered into senior years. (that's not the norm, of course) I do Rabies only as freqently as legally required, and talk to my vet a lot about the others (we're lucky in that after Oscar's scare this summer he and Rob have developed a lovely professional bromance, and enjoy talking vaccines.)

Elphie actually had a small reaction to a vaccine she got last week (whichever goes in her right shoulder) and I'm going to talk to the vet about how we should proceed in the future.

Part of living with a vet tech is hearing horror stories about vaccine reactions...

Ours are all (DHPPC & Bordetella) annual except for Rabies, after the first year Rabies is every three. I do have to booster Blu again on Friday for the DHPPC since there was no record of prior vaccinations for him when we adopted him.

Once the series of puppy shots were done, I went to the 3 year vaccination schedule. I never did the shot for kennel cough since there are so many varieties of it that the shot usually does not make much difference, plus I was not boarding my dog. Once my dog was over 8 years of age, I did the rabies 3 year required by law and that was it.

I don't think yearly vaccinations are a good idea, and I would get the rabies done at a different time than the other shot. It's a bit of an overload for their system.

I have to believe there's a bit of business that goes into this-right? If we make you believe vaccines are needed every year, we'll get you in the door at least once a year. Seems similar to food and "expiration" dates. Now, granted there are foods that expire...and their expiration dates are a legitimate concern...and when it comes to vaccines-they are important...but I, too, wonder about how often they're needed. I never thought about not giving my dogs the kenel cough vaccine-because we, too, never kennel...and as of late, we haven't had a new animal in our house in almost a year. We only do rabies when required by law. The other vaccines we do based on the recommendation/schedule of our vet. Our vets are going to see us regardless of it being time for vaccines or not. We're just "those" kind of people. I have already decided that once my dogs hit a certain age I will not be vaccinating them any longer, I don't know what age that will be...but it'll be determined by a decline in health for them. At that point, I don't see vaccines being beneficial and likely only cause their system to work harder than it needs to. I see a lot of people do this with elderly dogs-and agree with the decision.

Erin, I'd just ask them to provide you with information stating why they say they have to be done every year. You want proof/to do you own research. Nothing wrong with being honest about it...and I'd even mention what you said about going to them for more than three years and only now the yearly vaccine talk has come up.

3-year protocol is standard here but bordetella is recommended every 6 months (or annually - can't remember) if dog is in boarding.

I've been getting titres for Molly instead of the doing the 3-yr thing. The problem is rabies - proof of vaccination is required for licensing so I have allowed her license to lapse. This pains me as I think licensing is very important since those fees are used by the city to operate the municipal shelter.

I'm hoping that as more people hear about vaccine protocols being questioned, it will become more acceptable for titres to show proof of vaccine coverage. Getting titres is more expensive than the vaccines in my area so it's not a question of money but of long term health.

My vet still sends out the reminders for Annual vaccinations and I just smile and remind them that my dogs are on the 3-year protocol for Rabies, Parvo, and Distemper. I never get any push back. I wish I could get just those three, and you can get a single Parvo shot, but it's next to impossible to get a single Distemper shot - it's lumped in with whatever makes up DHLPP.

Then I pretty much stop all vaccinations after 9-10 years except for Rabies.

I'm pretty sure AVMA recommends 3 year spacing. I've been told vets continue to send out the annual reminders because that's the best (or only) way for them to get people in for annual exams, which I do still do. But a lot of people only go in when their dog actually needs something.

Our clinic follows AAHA protocol, so puppy series, one year boosters, then every three years for rabies/DAP. Every six months/yearly for bordetella as required and lepto yearly.

There is an incentive to try and keep people coming in yearly, but not as a money-grab as some people argue. For one, laws here stipulate that medications, including heartworm prevention, can only be prescribed to a dog if it has been examined by the clinic within the past year. Also, a lot can change in three years of a dog's life and preventative medicine is a lot more effective and less-costly than responsive medicine.

I do every three years, they are due this year and thinking about doing just rabies and distemper next year to split them up since the dogs are getting older and Nero already has such a cruddy immune system.

Thanks for the info, you guys. I am on an email basis with the vet who owns the practice, and I dropped him a line asking him what his thoughts are on 1 year vs. 3 year ... I am hoping that he tells me that there was an error or that they had a reason to suggest annual. I have been going to this vet for 3 years or so and I've liked them a lot, so I'd like to give benefit of the doubt that maybe there is an error here.

i am extremely disappointed in how my vet responded to me about this. extremely. my vet, who owns the clinic, did nit respond to me at all. they had a tech call me, and she first told me that our county requires annual, not 3-year, by law. she said the laws are different here than in other counties. but i know the law, and that is not true. she then says i could "get away" with 3 year rabies but that it is not a good idea (?). so ... i continued to question her, it was clear to me that she was either making stuff up, was clueless or was flat out lying, and she finally told me they could do 3-year if i really wanted it but that studies show effectiveness of vaccines wears down after the first year. i cancelled my appointment. i am calling new vets this week. i am really displeased, mostly because they did love button and handled him well, but i cannot feel trust in a vet whose staff is so poorly informed. intentionally or not.

Yeah that makes no sense - distemper (DA2PP) is not regulated by law and the vaccine is labeled for 3 years. I suppose some places could require yearly rabies but the canine vaccine is typically labeled for 3 years.